Description: (provided by the applicant) To adequately address a clinical research hypothesis requires a combination of clinical expertise, a good study design and appropriate outcomes and analytic methods. The goals of the Evaluation and Biostatistics Core are to provide methodological and statistical support to the Harvard OAIC clinical researchers in order to conduct and develop well-designed studies related to the independence of older persons. Specific Aims of the core include methodological and statistical support, clinical intervention development support, development of novel outcomes for variable clinical conditions, and exploration of analytic methods for correlated data. These aims will be achieved through regular interactions with the IDS and pilot project investigators, meetings with junior investigators for the development of new pilot projects and IDS investigators for the development of new clinical interventions, and participation in monthly Clinical Research Seminars. The core will also develop new methodology for the identification of distinct outcome trajectories and explore analytic methods for the analysis of correlated data arising from the IDS and pilot projects.